The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-03-03
LIGHT ON MYSTERY
.AWAR CORRESPONDENT Apparently
~ WOUNDED UNTO DEATH.

~ WOUNDED UNTO DEATH.
How. He Felt and What he rhoashe
While Failing Into the "unknowa
ucreaftcr"-A. Curious Expcrienes-An
Error Corrected.
had an experience which may throw
some light on the mystery which gathers
about the dying. An expedition led by
Sweeny, the one armed regular officer,
and consisting OF cavalry, infantry and
artillery, was sent out to destroy Con-
federatc depot of clothing and provisions.
The cavalry was put well in advance as
we neared the point, and finally, when
within striking distance, q charge was
ordered into the town. ! went In with
the troopers and suddenly found myself
in the midst Of hot contest, In which
rebel shotguns and rifles were playing o
prominent part. Near the center of the
place was q brick court house, into which
after little time l entered, partly be-
cause the shooting was very careless, o
score of men and horses in my immediate
vicinity being hit and stampede being
inaugurated by frantic animals, and
partly because it seemed that could get
q better view of the contest from the roof
of the building.
assembled to the second floor and en-
tered large square room in which were
heaped large quantity OF clothing. There
was q table at which were seated two men
in Federal uniform, who were engaged In
examining some papers
My wearing apparel was much dilapi.
dated and / concluded to make ali ex.
nLon,,a 7 colactnfl n nf tr0uSarS from
the pile and pair of saddle bags, and
then proceeded to make change of gar
ments. had the new trousers partly on,
when the building suddenly shiycred rs II
struck by an earthquake; there was sim
ultaneously a dcafening explosion, rat
ting Of shattered glass, while the room
became filed with flying particles Of
brick and mortar.
"a shell, by -r' roared ono Of the
men, as he tipped over backward, over.
turning the table, then scrambled to his
feet and ran toward the stairway, fol-
lowed by his companion. ! chung to the
saddle bags and the half adjusted gar
ments and FASTENED after them as fast as
my semi-bandaged condition would per-
NIT.
KNOCKED sENsELEss.
/ reached the head of the staircase in
timo to see the others descending in great
leaps to the bottom and then disappear
through the door. l had descended two
or three steps when there came another
explosion which seemed to be directly
at the back of my head. Broad belts Of
vivid crimson filled my line of vision, and
then lost consciousness. A little later /
recovered my mental condition and found
myself lying at the foot Of the stairway
A pool of blood lay about my head and
saturated my clothing. A frightful weak
ness possessed me, and there was n savage
pain in the back of my head. With i'm
mense eXertion / struggled to my feet,
after falling two or three times, and then
kept myself upright by leaning against
the jamb of the doorway.
1t seemed to me that ] was dying. A
mortal languOr possessed me, and / felt
that in n moment or two should drop to
the floor dead | cannot truthfully state
that at this supreme moment all my past
life flashed before me, rs is recorded in so
many excellent books concerning death
bed scenes. Nothing of this kind Oc-
Cured. / had no particular consciousness
apart from the lanGuor, the pain and
curious sinking feeling about the heart. l
recall what appears 10 have been q dim
would think when they heard Of my death.
None of the good nor bad deeds of my life
passed before me in that moment. The
space about me grew into II blUcncs;, and
then gradually changed into dense black.
AS it did so. my strength left nc. / sank
to the floor, my last remembrance being
something TO the effect that / was slowly
dropping into Infinite space.
f'hiS faint rClnp hraprp thC,c dim cpn-
sations, this sinking away, thought WAS
death. Had | actually died would have
experienced no other feeling.
RECOVERED CONSEQUENCES.
When again recovered consciousness I
was lying with q bandaged head on a
bench in the court house. An hour later
was on u horse and moving ON the return
march. i chung all through the occur
renee TO the trousers and saddle bags.
After the cavalry had entered the town
word was sent back to section Of artil-
lery in the rear, with order TO its officer to
hurry up and bring his pieces TO bcir on
the town. The officer was Lieut. George
Sokalski who was quite deaf, and who
understood the order to bc TO 'lirc" on the
town. lie did SO, and the court house
being the most conspicuous object, he
selected it for target for Shell practice.
The second of his missivcs exploded just
behind me, and gave me my first expert
encc Us to the sensations OF death.
] saw many men die during the war, and
in no case was there anything distressing
in the occurrence. When Il man was hit
and believed the wound TO he a deadly
one, he never grew excited nor frantic
over his condition. The conviction seemed
to quiet him; to stun him Il little; TO bo
something in the nature of an opittc. l
do not believe there was 4 single instance
in the entire war in which Il soldier, know
ing that he was about TO die, arranged
any Of the beautiful sentiments SO fire.
quently published in some of the news
papers and in n certain class Of books.
"Tcll them that / have checrfully given
my life for my flag and my country" is
an absurd invention. No dying man ever
said it, and no dying man ever thought it.
-'Poliuto" in Chicago Times.